Monthly Archives: January 2014

The Rubicon 1.1 update was released with a 1.1GB patch file. This took an annoying 40 plus minutes to download and apply. I’m not sure if it is my location or my ISP throttling traffic, but ever since CCP went with a P2P approach to distribute their patch files the whole process has been extra slow.

Within 60 seconds of logging in I picked up the station sound volumes were messed up, and standings were not showing up in local. A little while later I noticed searching the market was 3-5 times slower. I’m not sure how such things get through testing.

I have still to read most of the Patch Notes. I did check out the BPO of the new and extra deployable structures, but ended up not buying any. I don’t really see a situation where I would need to build any for myself, and I am not sure there would be much of a market for them in my little area of Empire.

I also undocked and flew around a couple of the stations in my home system to check out the changes to their appearances. Nothing to write home about individually, but it adds polish to the overall look of the game.

I hope I don’t see one of those new Capital wrecks. Given I play solo – if I see such a wreck it will most likely be one of mine.

Otherwise I have been selling off a small proportion of my “To Sell” container. I also spent some time double checking where the re-cloak delay time was (a Ship Stat), and where the targeting delay after de-cloaking was taken from (a module stat but can be impacted by the ship).

The household should get into more of a pattern next week when the youngest starts Kinder, so hopefully I can do a little more in game after that.

For many hours now I have been watching with morbid fascination the massive, very long running and still on going Super Cap battle in EVE. 50+ Titans destroyed so far, which is mind-numbing when you really think about it.

I started back at work two weeks ago, and haven’t managed to undock in EVE since. I’ve just logged in once a day to check I haven’t had a war declared against me and to make the occasional skill queue change.

The likelihood of war is remote, but I checked daily when I had a POS up, and I check daily now I have POCO.

Work has been solidly busy, but my absence from EVE relates more to the kids. The youngest has finished up at Childcare and is at home waiting for Kinder to start, and the oldest is on School Holidays. Having both at home together is much harder work than one or the other. While they have been better behaved than expected, the interruptions and distractions mean my work days tend to stretch well into the evenings, leaving no time for EVE.

Instead I’ve been spending more time playing Minecraft than usual. It is easier to pick up and put down in short sessions, plus the kids love the game and are entertained for hours by checking out copies of my world or chatting to me about it.

On one hand hats off to CCP. Some 4,000 players apparently trying to fight and the node did not die.

Against that, the node not dying resulted in a situation that was unplayable for many of the participants. That is no fun at all.

So where does CCP go from here? Do they look at Drones to reduce some of the server work? Do they look at a mechanism that freezes the system when x number of players are on grid, splits the grid and moves half the players on to a new node, then restarts? Do they simply restrict the number of people who can be on any one Grid in game? Do they limit how many people can use one Cyno? Do they change the Sov mechanisms so that these sorts of battles will no longer influence it? And how do they do all this without making it easier for smart players to game the situation, or have it seem so contrived that the game loses its immersion factor.

No idea what the answer is, but I know the players are pushing CCP into a situation where they are going to have to try something new to help the situation.

I am not a true Wormhole Day tripper in the sense most people use the term. I am not running sites, sucking gas or ore, or focused on hunting others. I am just quietly slipping from one system to another, seeing where my travels might take me. I’m a tourist without an itinerary.

The concept is still to end up losing my Ship, but I am enjoying the randomness of the sessions. I am also finding that I am improving my piloting. Never underestimate the value of spending time in dangerous space to hone your skills. My probing is quite literally twice as fast (turned out I was nowhere near aggressive enough), my bookmark management far more streamlined, and I am using D-Scan with far more finesse. Adequate is ok for Empire space, not so much elsewhere.

[Kor-Azor]Mora – 1 (WH)

It is a couple days later and I am back. I undock and in two scans I have bookmarked the only signature in the system, which turns out to be a wormhole into unknown space. With barely a thought I jump through, forgetting that I should be feeling some trepidation.

It doesn’t look scary at all

J100211 – 2 + 1 + 1 (WH to C3, WH to unknown, Gas)

D-Scan takes on a familiar look – Russian ships with graphics in their name. I notice no POS on scan, so I change my overview to the correct tab.

I make use of http://www.staticmapper.com/index.php and see this is a C1 with a static to Hi-Sec. I spend a few minutes finding the online and offline POS, although have a heart attack when I pull up just 3,100m from a battery when warping into the last POS at VI M6. It holds all the ships, which are all unpiloted. I slink away still cloaked.

As I start to scan the interface blips with the arrival of a new signature. This sees me revisiting an area in space with my probes. After 8 scans I have 2 unexplored wormholes (one which just turned up) and a pocket of Gas. I also have someone else’s Probes on scan. I figure they have come in from the fresh hole, I bounce around the system working out what the probes are focused on, and figure they are actually on the new hole. Playing with D-Scan shows they are spread about, so maybe the user didn’t come this way.

By varying D-Scan further I come to the conclusion the probes are not moving – and they stay that way over the new hole for an inordinate amount of time. Finally, long past the point where I have grown bored, they disappear.

I ponder if the other play was playing mind games, leaving said observer second guessing what was going on. More likely they were just distracted, or maybe they were just not that good at scanning. An Imicus frigate warps in at 100km from the hole and immediately cloaks. Thanks to the ships name I know it is a local.

After a while the frigate de-cloaks and warps away. I take the opportunity to warp down from my perch and go look at what was on the other side of the wormhole.

J101048 – 1 + 1 (WH to Low Sec)

This is a large system with a probable Low Sec Static. There are 3 areas where POS could be. I warp around to find lots of POS weapons in the first area but no POS, nothing in the second area, and an online POS with Ares, Helios and Noctis in the third.

There were an annoying 26 moons around the planet, and it takes a few minutes on D-Scan to narrow the location down to VI M21. I warp to Moon 17 and then in on Moon 21 to change my approach angle. Unexpectedly all the ships are piloted.

I watch for a short while, but given how empty the system is I decide to scan down the second Signature. I have a vague recollection that I could do this outside of scan range of the POS. 3 Scans later (should have done that in two) I am sitting off a Wormhole that I am guessing leads to Domain.

[Genesis]Anara – 2 + 1 (Combat, Combat)

My guess is wrong. I’m in Genesis, although not near the Low Sec area I Operate around. I notice the system has a gate to Sharza. Why does that name sound familiar? I’m pretty sure there is a system with a similar name I used to spend time in, possibly in low sec.

There is a Pirate in system flying a Curse, but after a short while I am left alone. 5 scans later I find 2 combat sites, one which was quite tough to find. The Pirate returns and warps around, and with no Wormholes to explore I take the opportunity when the gate is clear to move over to the next system.

Sharza – 3 (WH to unknown, Relic, WH to Null)

There are two in system, both pirates, neither near the gate. I launch probes and in 5 scans have two wormholes (Unknown and Null) and a Relic Site. I also notice a Navy Slicer and Tengu on D-Scan at various points in time.

[Cache]TPG-DD – 1

I check out the Null Sec hole first. It is more Russian space, and with only the inbound signature, I step back into Sharza.

Sharza

The Pirate from Anara is now in system with his Curse. Busy little bees these guys are. I warp over and check out the second wormhole.

J124654 – 5+1 (WH to C5, WH to Low, Gas, Gas, Relic)

This wormhole has a possible Low Sec Static – which seems to make sense. I can see a Capsule on scan, so there is life, plus a venture, 3 towers and 2 force fields. I identify all the POS, plus another one out of initial D-Scan range. The POS holding the Capsule and manned Venture was on a planet with 19 moons. I started at 19 and worked my way down with D-Scan (since most POS seem to be parked at the higher numbers). The POS was at moon 4. I think I need to halve and then quarter space with D-Scan to cut the number of moons to focus scan on.

I bookmark both Ore sites in system and watch points over the POS, but the pilots do nothing of interest while I watch. I have spent a whole lot of time preparing for and then watching people not doing anything in wormholes.

After a while I notice on D-Scan that the venture has gone, then the POD, replaced by a Prowler. I warp back to the POS to check up on what is happening.

I then get a phone call from the Computer Maintenance Department wanting to talk to the Computer user. I say I don’t own a computer and just use a Smartphone. They sound confused and then hang up.

I look back at EVE to see the Prowler has continued to do nothing.

Then I have a short SMS conversation with my wife, who is down visiting her sister with our kids. (The reason I am able to be in WH space today).

I look back at EVE afterwards to see the Prowler has continued to do nothing.

Wormhole dwellers seem to do a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing.

Finally I give up and probe instead. It takes 13 scans due to how spread out the sites were and one very hard to find Relic site. I have a choice of a C5 Wormhole, or a Low Sec Wormhole. I don’t much fancy the C5, so I head to the new Low Sec hole.

The wormhole looks very red – I presume it goes to Minmatar space. There are two other pilots in system when I step into Uisper, although one leaves shortly after. I waste no time and in 9 scans have 2 Wormholes and 4 combat sites.

I’ve just about had enough so want to find some place safe to dock up if possible. I check out the new Low Sec Link.

[Genesis]New Eden – 3 + 1 (WH to unknown, Combat, Combat)

I’m back in Genesis low sec again. It takes me a couple minutes to realise where I am – it is the system where man first arrived from Earth. Ok – that is cool, and is the exact reason I am doing the Wormhole tourist thing. You never know where you are going to end up.

The EVE Gate

I scan down a Wormhole to unknown and 2 combat sites, but decide I am just going to log off here at a safe.

(I’ve been back at work for a week and my time off feels long forgotten. It has been surprisingly busy. Here’s the next installment of my wormhole stumbling’s, which happened a while back.)

I often use the Asset List whenever I am setting the Navigation computer to point me towards home. When I do this I tend to notice Palas in the list, and am reminded that my Wormhole Loki is sitting there. This happened again while I was flying the Astero to my Low Sec Base, and I remembered my original goal to do some Wormhole day tripping while on holidays.

[Khanid]Palas – 0

I’m back in the long, rough edged hull of the Loki. I have not spent much time in Khanid – but as I undock it looks like I will spent a little longer than expected as there are no Signatures to scan down. I gate across to the next system.

Reteka – 4 (WH C5, WH, Data, WH)

There are combat probes out already in this system. It takes 11 scans and two interruptions from my son, but I end up with 3 Wormholes to Unknown space and one Data site. The last of Wormholes was difficult to find, so I assume it might be to one of the tougher ones and arbitrarily pick one of the others.

J154906 – Who cares?

It is a C5, with two Archon, a Moros and a Cheetah on Scan. My thoughts on lower strength holes being to tougher holes might need some investigation. I warp to an outer planet and finding the area clear, launch probes and move them high above the system.

The system has reduced targeting, slower tracking, extra damage effects and other things I can’t understand my notes on. I notice on D-Scan that there are actually 5 distinct areas which are out of D-Scan range of each other, which seems unusual.

I see probes out on scan and decide I don’t much care to start my day in an active C5, so I return to High Sec.

Reteka

The combat probes are still on scan. I pick the second high strength hole to check out next. It is wobbling and looking unwell.

J130125 – 4+1+1 (Gas, Data, WH unknown, WH C1, WH Hi-Sec)

The new hole is a C2 with lots of ships on scan.

That certainly makes it more difficult to keep a track of hulls appearing and disappearing. I take a screen capture of the D-Scan list for my reference. I warp around using D-Scan and find the ships, all unpiloted, at a POS on V M3. There are two other planets out of D-Scan range but one has no moons, and the other has no POS. It is at this time that I notice my inbound Wormhole has gone. I guess that means I am trapped.

A pigsty of a POS

Since things seem quiet I launch probes. 12 scans later and I have a Gas, Data, and 3 Wormhole signatures. I keep an eye on D-Scan but the ship types do not change. I go check the C1 first.

J105443 – 4+1 (Gas, Gas, WH Null, Data)

I sniff around and find the system empty, with 5 POS up without Force fields. (Nothing to loot.) I am keeping an eye out for an empty C1 or C2 – and my mind races for a few moments as I consider the possibilities of this hole. I launch probes and 8 scans later I have my inbound hole, 2 Gas sites, a Data site, and a wormhole to Null.

Ahhh – a static Null connection, that is why it is empty. I check out what part of Null it is currently attached to.

[Catch]Not Recorded – 1 (inbound)

I failed to record the system I jumped into, but it was AAA-Citizens Sov with no other signatures and plenty of active pilots. Since my entrance point was too easily scanned down and blocked, and I could hear the family making noises that indicated my EVE time was fast coming to an end, I return back through the empty C1, to the C2, and check out what part of High Sec it connected to.

[Kor-Azor]Mora

The name of this system seems familiar. Maybe it is a training system? There is a 15 day old pilot sitting on the inbound wormhole in a catalyst, and plenty of pilots flying around on D-Scan. I simply pick a station and dock up.

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